How do bankruptcy laws affect entrepreneurship development around the world?

19 years (19902008), we nd that lenient, entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws are signif-icantly correlated with the level of entrepreneurship development as measured by the rate of

on. Wkrupt

entrepreneurship development in the face of such odds against entrepreneurial success?ty, su

component of the institutional framework within which entrepreneurs and rms operate. The legal procedures associated with

Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Business Venturingbankruptcy vary signicantly across countries. Some countries provide only limited protection for entrepreneurs and managers ofbankrupt rms, while others have more entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws.

A well-known proposition in the literature is that institutions mattermore specically, entrepreneurs and rms strategicallyrespond to the institutional incentives and disincentives. Given the institutions matter proposition, more work is needed to helpus understand: How do institutions matter? Thus, two important but unexplored questions we investigate in this study are: Howdobankruptcy laws affect entrepreneurship development around theworld?Do entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws encouragemore entrepreneurship development at a societal level?

Amassing a longitudinal, cross-country database covering 29 countries and spanning 19 years (19902008, inclusive), we focuson whether differences in bankruptcy laws are systematically related to the different levels of entrepreneurship development asmeasured by the rate of new rm entry. Components of entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws include: (1) the time spent onHow formal institutions of a sociebankruptcy procedure, (2) the cost of bank

Corporate bankruptcies are commventures fail and many end up in bannew rm entry. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

hile all entrepreneurs are interested in success, unfortunately a majority of theircy. A challenge confronting policymakers around the world is: How to facilitate moreKeywords:Bankruptcy lawsEntrepreneurshipInstitutionsInstitution-based viewHow do bankruptcy laws affect entrepreneurship development aroundthe world?

a University of Texas at Dallas, School of Management, 800 West Campbell, SM 43, Richardson, TX 75080, United Statesb Babson College, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, Babson Park, MA 02457, United Statesc The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history:Received 20 May 2009Received in revised form 26 April 2010Accepted 18 May 2010Available online 26 June 2010

How do bankruptcy laws as formal institutions affect entrepreneurship development aroundthe world? Do entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws encourage more entrepreneurshipdevelopment at a societal level? We posit that if bankrupt entrepreneurs are excessivelypunished for failure, they may give up potentially high-return but inherently high-risk oppor-tunities to start new businesses. Amassing a cross-country database from 29 countries spanningruptcy procedure, (3) the opportunity to have a fresh start in liquidation bankruptcy,

(4) the opportunity to have an automatic stay of assets, and (5) the opportunity for managers to remain on the job after ling forbankruptcy. By examining the relationship between bankruptcy laws and the value creating activities in a society associated with

506 S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520new rm formation, we predict that entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws may increase the rate of new rm entry, which maybe indicative of vibrant entrepreneurial activities in an economy.

Contributing to an institution-based view of entrepreneurship, our research has clear implications for policymakers interestedin entrepreneurship development in an economy and for entrepreneurs assessing their risk when starting up new rms. Forpolicymakers, we suggest that making bankruptcy laws more entrepreneur-friendly will positively affect entrepreneurshipdevelopment by lowering exit barriers and entry barriers. For entrepreneurs starting up new rms, we suggest that they payattention to the nuances of bankruptcy laws in their jurisdiction and that if possible they set up rms in a jurisdiction that hasentrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws.

2. Introduction

Corporate bankruptcies are common. While all entrepreneurs are interested in success, unfortunately a majority of theirventures fail and many end up in bankruptcy. A challenge confronting policymakers around the world is: How to facilitate moreentrepreneurship development in the face of such odds against entrepreneurial success?

Entrepreneurship is widely seen as one of the most important drivers of economic growth (Schumpeter, 1942). The level ofentrepreneurship in a particular country is not independent of the broader institutional context that has evolved in that country(Baumol, 1996; North, 1990). Countries that are characterized by institutions that support entrepreneurial activity will, otherthings equal, have higher levels of entrepreneurship than countries characterized by institutions that do not supportentrepreneurship (Acs and Laszlo, 2007; Busenitz et al., 2000; Peng et al., 2009; Peng et al., 2008).

Of course, the institutional context of entrepreneurship in a particular country can have many different elementsrangingfrom cultural values concerning risk to beliefs about the stigma associated with entrepreneurial failure (Shepherd, 2003;Yamakawa, 2009). Research has shown that many of these elements are, in fact, related to the rate of entrepreneurship in acountry (Shane, 1996). Because many of these institutional elements reect the evolution of values and beliefs in a country overlong periods of time, they are both relatively stable (Hofstede, 2007) and difcult to alter with changes in public policy (North,1990). However, there are some elements of the institutional context of entrepreneurship within a country that are somewhatmore susceptible to policy manipulations. One of these may be a country's bankruptcy lawsa form of formal institutions(Gamboa-Cavazos and Schneider, 2007).

Indeed, Lee et al. (2007) have argued that a country's corporate bankruptcy laws (hereafter bankruptcy laws) can have animportant impact on the level of entrepreneurship in a country.4 Lee et al. (2007) posit that bankruptcy laws that reduce the cost ofentrepreneurial exit may increase the level of entrepreneurship in a country, while bankruptcy laws that increase the cost of suchexit may reduce the level of entrepreneurship in a country. Peng et al. (2010) show systematic differences in terms of bankruptcylaws' entrepreneur-friendliness around the world. It follows from this logic that countries seeking to increase the level ofentrepreneurship can, among other things, adjust their bankruptcy laws to reduce the cost of bankruptcy (Armour and Cumming,2008; Halliday and Carruthers, 2007).

Of course, a country's bankruptcy laws are not independent of other elements of its broader institutional framework, especiallythose elements of its culture that are relevant to entrepreneurial activity. Thus, for example, a country that has a culture that is riskadverse is more likely to have bankruptcy laws that raise the cost of entrepreneurial failure, while a countrywith a less risk adverseculture is likely to have bankruptcy laws that impose lower costs of such failures (Lee et al., 2007; Tezuka, 1999). If, as a matter ofpublic policy, a country is to use changes in its bankruptcy laws to facilitatemore entrepreneurship, the impact of those changes onthe propensity of individuals to become entrepreneurs must be greater than those elements in the institutional context thatcontinue to be anti-entrepreneurial in nature.

In a nutshell, we address two important yet underexplored questions: How do countries' bankruptcy laws affect the level ofentrepreneurship development as measured by the rate of new rm entry? Do entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws encouragemore entrepreneurship development at a societal level?We endeavor to contribute to theory building and empirical substantiationwith a focus on diverse entrepreneurship phenomena around theworld (Zahra, 2007).We begin bymore fully developing the logicthat links bankruptcy laws with the level of entrepreneurship in a country. Then we develop hypotheses linking the specicelements of these laws with entrepreneurial behavior and test them with a sample of 29 countries over a 19-year time period.

While our paper builds on the most relevant earlier work by Lee et al. (2007), Peng et al. (2010), and Armour and Cumming(2008), ours goes beyond these three papers in at least ve signicant ways. First, Lee et al. (2007) is a theory paper with noempirical data. Peng et al. (2010) show qualitative data without empirical testing. Ours is the rst paper to deepen and broadentheir theoretical ideas, transform them into testable hypotheses, and empirically test them with worldwide data. While Lee et al.(2007) and Peng et al. (2010) emphasize the benet side of bankruptcy and pay less attention to the important component of thecost of bankruptcy (Bris et al., 2006; Djankov et al., 2008;White, 1984), we have added the estimation of the direct and overall costof the bankruptcy proceedings (e.g., cost of petitioning for insolvency, court fees, fees of practitioners, independent assessors,lawyers, and accountants). The positive externality discussed in Lee et al. (2007) is also complemented by the negative externalityin our research. Second, Armour and Cumming (2008) is an empirical paper that shares the same basic thrust of our paperwith

4 Although a country's personal bankruptcy laws may also affect entrepreneurship development (Armour and Cumming, 2008; Efrat, 2002; Fan and White,2003; Mankart and Rodano, 2007), we do not deal with personal bankruptcy laws in this article.

one important difference. Armour and Cumming (2008) deal with the impact of personal bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurship,and we focus on the impact of corporate bankruptcy laws. Third, Armour and Cumming (2008) cover 15 developed economies(two in North America and 13 inWestern Europe). Our database covers 29 countries that not only include all the countries studiedby Armour and Cumming (2008), but also 14 additional countries in Asia, Latin America, and Oceaniawith substantialrepresentation of emerging economies. Fourth, Armour and Cumming (2008) mainly examine the aspect of bankruptcyprocedures with the direct relationship with creditors using automatic discharge and exemptions from creditors. This isunderstandable since they only examine liquidation bankruptcy, while we examine both liquidation and reorganizationbankruptcies. For this reason, we examine the effect of automatic stay of assets and managers' stay on the job, which arespecically related only to reorganization bankruptcy. Fifth and nally, we also examine the potential endogeneity problem in therelationship between bankruptcy law and entrepreneurship development. Following Klapper, Laeven, and Rajan (2006), we usean instrumental-variable approach and use legal origin as an instrument for fresh start.

3. Entrepreneurship at the societal level

Starting with Schumpeter (1942), there is ample literature on entrepreneurship at the societal level. For example, McGrath(1999) argues that uncertainty is not always a bad thing even when most entrepreneurs fail if a few successful entrepreneurs cangenerate more value to a society than when all entrepreneurs survive, but hardly add value. At a societal level, this logic suggeststhat since a society cannot anticipate, with certainty, which entrepreneurial activities will actually generate economic growth andprosperity, it should encourage the development of a wide variety of such activities (Birley, 1986; Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). From

507S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520a societal standpoint, each of these entrepreneurial activities can be regarded as an experiment (McGrath, 1999). Many of thesewill turn out to be economically unsustainable, which may lead to numerous bankruptciesfor example, think of numerous e-commerce failures. However, some of themmay turn out to be economically importantthink of Google and Yahoo! Without thebundle of options created by numerous entrepreneurs, a society may not be able to discover those entrepreneurial activities thatactually create economic growth and prosperity (Lee et al., 2007; McGrath, 1999; Nickell, 1996; Peng et al., 2010).

At a societal level, the unlimited upside potential associated with entrepreneurial actions exists because of the potentialeconomic value that these actions can create. Limiting the downside risks associated with these activities depends on the cost offailing as entrepreneurs in a society. Failure, although painful for bankrupt entrepreneurs, may be valuable for the society as awhole (Hoetker and Agarwal, 2007; Knott and Posen, 2005), because it reveals which entrepreneurial endeavors are not likely tobe sources of economic growth.

4. Hypotheses

Following Lee et al. (2007), Peng et al. (2010), and Armour and Cumming (2008), a broad proposition emerges, suggestingthat bankruptcy laws that reduce the cost of entrepreneurial bankruptcy may, other things equal, increase the rate ofentrepreneurshipspecically, entry of new rms in a country. However, to generate testable hypotheses consistent with thisbroad proposition, specic dimensions of bankruptcy laws and how they vary across countries must be identied.

Extending Lee et al. (2007) and Peng et al. (2010), we identify ve dimensions of bankruptcy laws and develop testablehypotheses. As shown in Fig. 1, the ve dimensions are: (1) the time spent on bankruptcy procedure, (2) the cost of bankruptcyprocedure, (3) the opportunity to have a fresh start in liquidation bankruptcy, (4) the opportunity to have an automatic stay ofassets, and (5) the opportunity for managers to remain on the job after ling for bankruptcy.

The cost of bankruptcy is positively related to the length of time spent on the bankruptcy procedure (Bebchuk, 2000; Bris et al.,2006). In a liquidation bankruptcy, a fast procedure allows the quick reallocation of assets of failed rms to better uses. At the sametime, a fast procedure can provide an entrepreneur a new opportunity to start a new business. By eliminating failing rms andreallocating resources to better uses, a fast bankruptcy procedure may increase variance in a bundle of rms at a societal level.

If a rm les reorganization bankruptcy (such as Chapter 11 in the United States), a fast procedure may protect the value of theassets of the rm and improve its chances for an eventually successful turnaround (Bebchuk, 2000). A lengthy processcharacterized by an uncertain outcome, however, may make business partners (such as buyers and sellers) reluctant to maintaintheir business relationships. This in turn may reduce earnings and the value of rm assets (LoPucki and Doherty, 2002). One studydrawing on data from 88 countries nds that on average, it takes 2.64 years to resolve, and on average 48% of the rm value is lostduring the highly inefcient bankruptcy process (Djankov et al., 2008). Not surprisingly, managers may become frustrated withthe long procedure, which distracts them from focusing on more important operations. An inefcient, time-consuming proceduremay end up forcing a rm to liquidate by increasing nancial distress, while a fast procedure could have saved the rm.

In Japan, even when nancially insolvent rms decide to le for bankruptcy, courts will scrutinize the case and decidewhether to allow certain rms to declare themselves bankrupt. In other words, some insolvent rms are not allowed tobankrupt. This procedure alone takes more than three months (Alexander, 1999). It is, therefore, not surprising that in Japan, halfof all liquidations took more than three years and more than 75% of reorganizations exceeded ve years from application toconclusion (Alexander, 1999). Obviously, failed entrepreneurs stuck with existing rms going through a lengthy bankruptcyprocedure are not in a position to start new rms. Overall, a more efcient bankruptcy procedure may encourage more entry ofnew rmsin Silicon Valley, this is known as the motto of fail fast, fail cheap, and move on. In Mexico, post-2000 bankruptcyreforms have shortened the average bankruptcy process from 7.8 to 2.3 years (Gamboa-Cavazos and Schneider, 2007). Insummary:

Hypothesis 1. Less time spent on the bankruptcy procedure will be positively associated with a higher rate of new entry of rmsin a country.

4.2. Cost of bankruptcy procedure

In addition to the lengthy time, the actual cost involved in ling bankruptcy may also make entrepreneurs procrastinate aboutling bankruptcy (Bris et al., 2006). One may think that the direct cost of bankruptcy is not very high. However, the World Bank'sDoing Business Report (2008) nds that in the United States, the direct cost is approximately 7% of the assets of the rm. Bris et al.(2006) report a higher percentage for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcies: 17%. Internationally, Djankov et al. (2008) nd bankruptcycost amounts to 14% of the estate cost among 88 countries. It costs 22% when rms le bankruptcy in Italy and Poland, and 36% inThailand (Doing Business Report, 2008). This underscores Mason's (2005: 1523) argument that costly bankruptcy can causesluggish economic growth. In other words, high bankruptcy cost may discourage rms to le bankruptcies even when at thesocietal level, it may be more valuable for them to go bankrupt so that resources and employees can be channeled toward moreproductive use. Also, when the cost associated with bankruptcy is high, some entrepreneurs may be discouraged to startbusinesses in the rst place. Thus:

Hypothesis 2. Less cost spent on the bankruptcy procedurewill be positively associatedwith a higher rate of new entry of rms ina country.

4.3. Fresh start in liquidation bankruptcy

Bankruptcy laws can either discharge bankrupt individuals from debt or allow the pursuit of bankrupt entrepreneurs for years(OECD, 1998). By discharging bankrupt entrepreneurs, while creditors can claim residual assets, they cannot pursue any remainingclaims. Since an entrepreneur's future earnings are exempt from the obligations to repay past debt from bankruptcy, this type ofbankruptcy laws are appropriately called fresh start laws (Ayotte, 2007;White, 2001). In the absence of a legally protected freshstart, creditors can pursue any remaining claims, at least for some dened period of time. In Germany, until the recent bankruptcylaw reforms (Armour and Cumming, 2008), the debtor would remain liable for unpaid debt for up to 30 years (Ziechmann, 1997)and managers at bankrupt rms can be personally liable for criminal penalties (Fialski, 1994). It is not surprising that Germanentrepreneurs would have to think twice before starting up new rms.

In addition, the 19971998 Asian economic crisis revealed that the lack of protection against creditors actually keptmany rmsfrom ling bankruptcy even when it would have made more sense to le (Chang, 2006; New York Times, 1998). For executives ofrms in distress who know that the consequences of bankruptcy would hurt them personally, ling a bankruptcy is likely to be thelast thing they have in mind. This means that many rms that should not be alive continue to survivein essence, dead menwalking, a huge opportunity cost to the overall economy (Lim and Hahn, 2003). Once these economically unviable rms are giventhe chance to le bankruptcy more easily, some entrepreneurs would be able to start new businesses. Thus:

Hypothesis 3. Discharging bankrupt entrepreneurs more from debt to allow them to have a fresh startwill be associated with ahigher rate of new entry of rms in a country.

509S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520The rst three dimensions we examined above are: (1) time spent on bankruptcy procedure, (2) cost of bankruptcy procedure,and (3) fresh start in liquidation bankruptcy. We argue that these three dimensions positively affect the rate of new entry becauserms would be affected by these dimensions regardless of the capabilities of the entrepreneurs. However, the two additionaldimensions, (1) automatic stay of assets in reorganization bankruptcy and (2) the fate of managers, may have differentimplications depending on how entrepreneurs are salvaged by the two dimensions, respectively.

Automatic stay of assets is about providing another opportunity to an unfortunate entrepreneur who is capable, but is undernancial trouble. For this reason, the automatic stay of assetsmay extend the economic viability of entrepreneurs and their currentrms. If the economic viability of entrepreneurs and their current rms is extended, theymay be less motivated to start new rms,thus resulting in a smaller number of new rm entries in the next stage. In other words, while nascent entrepreneurs may seeautomatic stay of assets as an incentive to start new rms, those who are already in business may not come back to restartbusinesses once they successfully revive their current rms in trouble. It is the same with the fate of managers. Should themanagers stay and revive the rms in trouble, they may be less motivated to start new rms.

4.4. Automatic stay of assets in reorganization bankruptcy

In some countries, bankruptcy laws may come with an automatic stay of assets and discharge some portion of debt. Anautomatic stay upon the start of bankruptcy proceedings means that creditors must cease debt collection efforts and move claimsto the court (Alexopoulos and Domowitz, 1998). The rm continues to operate while creditors and rms negotiate (Kaiser, 1996).Before deciding whether the rm should be liquidated or not, an automatic stay allows time for managers to communicate withcreditors (Franks et al., 1996). La Porta et al. (1998) nd that nearly half of the 49 countries they study do not have an automaticstay on assets. While automatic stay is allowed in the United States in the case of reorganization bankruptcy (such as Chapter 11),countries such as Germany, Great Britain, and Japan do not guarantee automatic stay of assets (Alexander, 1999; Hashi, 1997).

In an economywhere secured creditors are allowed to repossess their assets when a rm les reorganization bankruptcy, it canend up in premature liquidations (Broadie et al., 2007). Given uncertainty over the future potential of the rm, even when thevalue of the ongoing concern is higher than liquidation value, some creditors may have a greater interest in liquidating the rm(Broadie et al., 2007; Wruck, 1990). In Germany, for example, automatic stay does not extend to secured creditors and thesesecured creditors have incentives to pursue liquidation bankruptcy (Kaiser, 1996). Therefore, when automatic stay is not in place,many rms do not have the opportunity to le a reorganization bankruptcy even when this option is legally allowed. Thus, in turn,when entrepreneurs know that they would not be given a second chance when their rms are undergoing difculty, some of themwould be discouraged to start new businesses.

While we have not specically examined the downside of lenient bankruptcy laws in the previous three hypotheses, these lawshave costs aswell (Lee et al., 2007: 266; see Bebchuk, 2002; Kahl, 2002). Banksmay strictly screen potential entrepreneurs attemptingto securenancing due tomore lenient bankruptcy laws. In otherwords, debt forgiveness of failed entrepreneursmay comebackwithan increased cost of nancing to potential entrepreneurs, which may become a source of discouragement. Less time and less cost inbankruptcy procedures can lower the burden of failed entrepreneurs, but at the same time can increase the cost to the banks.

This is not different for the case of fresh start. Fresh start mandates that failed entrepreneurs are exempt from repayingoutstanding obligations (Ayotte, 2007). While residual assets can be claimed, banks cannot pursue for any remaining claims at abankruptcy. Since entrepreneurs are exempt from the obligations to repay past debts from bankruptcy with future earnings, it canbe very costly to the banks (White, 2001). However, in the absence of a legally protected fresh start, creditors can pursue anyremaining claim (Broadie et al., 2007). Maybe this is why past research shows that other than the leniency of the bankruptcy laws,the level of easy nancing is an important factor in new rm entry (Armour and Cumming, 2008). Not surprisingly Berkowitz andWhite (2004) nd that in the United States, the rejection rate for nancing is over 30% higher in states with unlimited bankruptcyexemptions compared to states with low exemptions. Thus:

Hypothesis 4a. An automatic stay of assets specied by bankruptcy laws will be positively associated with a higher rate of newentry of rms in a country.

On the other hand, if debt holders in a country have limited ability to secure repayment of their loans to bankrupt rms, theymay be forced to increase the cost of nancing. In a sense, the increased risk of receiving payment from a bankrupt rm for rmsoperating in countries with automatic stay of assets will be reected in the cost of debt capital for these rms (Broadie et al., 2007).This is why past research shows that how easy it is to gain access to nancing is an important factor in entrepreneurship devel-opment (Armour and Cumming, 2008; Mankart and Rodano, 2007). In other words, the opportunity cost of securing loans is theinterest rate that entrepreneurs have to bear (Choi and Phan, 2006; Shane, 1996). A high cost of nancing, in turn, may reduce thenumber of entrepreneurial entrants in a country.

In addition, if these entrepreneurs are successful in their turnaround attempt, they would be staying with the current rms,which will not necessarily result in the founding of new rms. This is why entrepreneurs can often successfully turn around theirrms in temporary nancial trouble in countries where an automatic stay of assets is well protected. For example, in the UnitedStates, Harvard Industries' nick name is Chapter 44 because it led reorganization bankruptcy four times (Economist, 2002). Thus,we suggest a competing hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4b. An automatic stay of assets specied by bankruptcy laws will be positively associated with a lower rate of newentry of rms in a country.

4.5. The fate of managers

510 S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520Managers make rm-specic investments during their tenure with a rm. This rm-specic knowledge would be mostrequired when a rm is in nancial distress. The opportunity to stay with the rm after ling for reorganization bankruptcyprovides incentives for managers to make rm-specic investments. If managers are going to be driven out when a rm lesreorganization bankruptcy, they may lack incentives to make rm-specic investments in the rst place (Shleifer and Summers,1988). If managers know ex ante that they will not be automatically replaced in the case of bankruptcy, however, the opportunityto stay with the rmmaywork as a bonding device (Gaston, 1997). Thus, when a rm les bankruptcy, providing an opportunityfor managers to stay may provide managers a better chance to revive the rm.

Since rms are heterogeneous, rm-specic investments by managers would increase variety and value in a bundle of rms(Barney, 1991). On the other hand, in a manager-replacement system such as a trustee-appointment system, appointing outsiderswithout rm-specic knowledge for reorganizationmay end upwith improper reorganization (Alexander, 1999; Hashi, 1997). Forexample, Chapter 11 in the United States allows managers to retain control of the rm and provides them the exclusive right topropose reorganization plans. In contrast, in Great Britain and Germany, control rights are rendered to secured creditors (Franks etal., 1996). It is not surprising that the practice of allowing secured creditors to take over has been criticized for the reason ofpremature liquidation (Kaiser, 1996). Thus, in turn, when entrepreneurs know that they would not be given a second chance torevive their rms under difculty, some of themmay be discouraged to start new businesses in the rst place. On the other hand,when entrepreneurs are given opportunities to stay on the job and work on the revival of the troubled rms, they may be morewilling to take risk and start businesses. Overall:

Hypothesis 5a. Allowing incumbent managers to stay on the job specied by bankruptcy laws rather than forcing out incumbentmanagers will be associated with a higher rate of new entry of rms in a country.

However, just as making it difcult for creditors to secure repayment on their debt can increase the cost of nancing andpotentially reduce the level of new rm entry in a country, so too can limitations of the ability of outside stakeholders to replacemanagement increase the cost of capital and other critical resources for entrepreneurial rms. Potentially one rationale forallowing managers to stay with the failing rm may be based on an assumption that the factors leading to the nancial trouble ofthe rm are largely exogenous (Daily, 1994; Moulton and Thomas, 1993). However, after all, it is under the care of the incumbentmanagers that the rm has gone bankrupt. An argument can be made that letting the failed managers stay with the rm that isalready in trouble may only give them another opportunity to destroy value. Because managers can take advantage of this specialtreatment of letting them stay during times of difculty, some scholars call this type of move as a strategic bankruptcy (Moultonand Thomas, 1993). Thus, letting failed managers stay in their positions when a rm is in nancial distress may increase the cost ofcapital. This, in turn, can also have a negative impact on the rate at which entrepreneurship emerges in a country.

In addition, as argued above, if entrepreneurs are more likely to turn around their rms, they would stay with the rm ratherthan starting new businesses. For this reason, it is quite possible that letting managers stay with the rm at the time ofreorganization bankruptcy may dampen the new entry of rms. Specically:

Hypothesis 5b. Allowing incumbent managers to stay on the job specied by bankruptcy laws rather than forcing out incumbentmanagers will be associated with a lower rate of new entry of rms in a country.

In summary, Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 suggest an unambiguous relationship between entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws andthe rate of entrepreneurship in a country as measured by the entry of new rms. These hypotheses focus directly on the cost of lingfor bankruptcyminimizing such cost is economically efcient for all of a rm's stakeholders (Lee et al., 2007; Peng et al., 2010).Hypotheses 4a4b and 5a5b suggest contradictory relationships between bankruptcy laws and the entry of new rms into a country.This is because these two sets of hypotheses focus on how the problems thatwould lead a rm to declare bankruptcy are resolved. If theprocess by which these problems are resolved favors managers (as in Hypotheses 4a and 5a), then that may give individuals moreincentives to become entrepreneurs. On the other hand, those incentives may be counter-balanced by the increased costs thatentrepreneurs would have to bear to compensate other stakeholders for the increased risks they would have to bear, in the face ofbankruptcy (Bebchuk, 2002;Broadieet al., 2007;Kahl, 2002). These increased costsmay reduce the level of newrmentries in a country.

The net effect of Hypotheses 4a versus 4b and of Hypotheses 5a versus 5b, on the entry of new rms into a country's economy,is ultimately an empirical question (Bebchuk, 2002: 457). However, if the size of these contradictory effects is approximatelyequal, these relationships may cancel each other and result in non-signicant ndings.

5. Methods

5.1. Data

We have collected data for 29 countries during a 19-year period (19902008, inclusive). Our sources include past studies oncommercial bankruptcy lings collected from government and private sources (Claessens and Klapper, 2005),5 on the legal rulescovering protection of corporate shareholders and creditors, their origin, and the quality of their enforcement (La Porta et al.,

5 We thank Stijin Claessens and Leora Klapper for sharing part of their data for our research.

Table 1New rm entry rates (the ratio of new rms to the total number of rms) and bankruptcy law differences.Sources: Claessens and Klapper, 2005; Doing Business Report, World Bank; La Porta et al., 1998; OECD data.

Country New rm entry Time (years) spent Cost (% of estate) Fresh start Automatic stay of Stay of incumbent

511S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520rate a on bankruptcy a of bankruptcy a (recovery rate:cents/$) a

It is natural for the bankruptcy variables to correlate with each other. But, according to the correlation table, there are someexceptions. For example, the correlations between the closing time and the automatic stay of assets and the closing time and thestay of incumbent management are not signicant. This is probably because while closing cost and closing time are part of theoverall administrative costs decided at the court and related to liquidation bankruptcy, automatic stay of assets and stay ofincumbent management are decided by the legislature and associated with liquidation bankruptcy. We also observe that not allthe bankruptcy variables are positively correlated. This suggests that many countries may have developed bankruptcy laws in apiece-meal manner (De Soto, 2003).

5.2. Dependent variable

In our hypotheses, we predict how various components of the bankruptcy laws can curtail the downside risk of entrepreneursand help encourage risk-taking behavior such as new rm entry. The dependent variable in our model is thus the rate of new rmentry (Kawai and Urata, 2002; Klapper et al., 2006; Yamawaki, 1991).We use OECD data on the ratio of the number of new rms tothe total number of rms (previous year) in a country.7

5.3. Independent variables

5.3.1. Closing timeThe data are obtained from the World Bank (Djankov et al., 2008). Closing time refers to the average time (in years) to

complete a bankruptcy procedurewithin a country. Sincewe argue that a shorter time for bankruptcy procedure is associatedwitha higher rate of bankruptcy ling, we reverse the signs of the lengths of time from positive to negative.

6 Doing Business Report, International Finance Corporation, The World Bank Group (http://www.ifc.org).7 For certain instances, the OECD did not provide the rate of new rm entry but provided data on the number of rms in total in a particular year end (Tt) and

the number of rms that led bankruptcy in a particular year end (Dt). In these cases, we calculated the number of entries (Bt) by Tt=Bt+Tt1Dt so thatBt=Tt(Tt1Dt), whereas the rate of new rm entry BRt=Bt /Tt1.

United States 0.10 1.5 7.0 20.1 1 1

a Average during 19902008.

5.3.2.

512 S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520Similarly, we use data provided by the World Bank to measure the cost associated with bankruptcy lings (Djankov et al.,2008). Closing cost represents the cost of the bankruptcy proceedings (% of estate). Again, to align with our argument that a lowercost of bankruptcy is associated with a higher ling rate, we reverse the signs from positive to negative.

5.3.3. Fresh startWe use the rate of recovery from a closing tomeasure the degree of an entrepreneur's fresh start as specied by the bankruptcy

laws. Since the likelihood of pursuits of remaining claims is associated with closing recovery, we use this variable to proxy for anentrepreneur's fresh start. Closing recovery exhibits the recovery rate, which calculates how many cents on the dollar claimantssuch as creditors, tax authorities, and employees recover from an insolvent rm.We assume that the greater the claimants recoverfrom an insolvent rm, the less is recovered by entrepreneurs themselves, thereby the less likely they will have a fresh start. Inorder to align with our argument that lower recovery by others is associated with higher ling rate, we calculate fresh start as onedollar (100 cents) minus the rate of recovery as cents per dollar by others such as creditors, tax authorities, and employees. Datafor this variable are also obtained from the World Bank.

5.3.4. Automatic stay of assetsWe use data originally collected by La Porta et al. (1998) and frequently used in subsequent research (Claessens and Klapper,

2005; Peng et al., 2010; Pistor, 2000). This variable represents one of the dummy variables created in La Porta et al. (1998),whether or not the reorganization procedure imposes an automatic stay on the assets, thereby preventing secured creditors fromgetting possession of loan collateral. Whereas La Porta et al. (1998) dene it no automatic stay on secured assets, here, we label itreversely as automatic stay of assets. Accordingly, this variable equals to 1 if there is automatic stay of assets; and 0 otherwisethat such a restriction does not exist in the law.

al. (1998) label this as management does not stay, which we label here reversely as stay of incumbent management.Accordingly, the variable equals to 1 if incumbent management stays during a restructuring or bankruptcy; and 0 otherwise (i.e.,when an ofcial appointed by the court, or by the creditors, is responsible for the operation of the business during reorganization,or when the debtor does not keep the administration of its property pending the resolution of the process).

5.4. Control variables

We control for six sets of factors. First, we expect that economic performance of a countrywould affect its rate of new rm entry(Shane, 1996). Countries experiencing positive growthmay have higher rates of new rm entry (Kawai and Urata, 2002). Thus, wecontrol for countries' general level of development andmacroeconomic performance. For general development, we include laggedreal GDP per capita in US dollars. For macroeconomic performance, we include the growth rate of real GDP lagged one yearobtained from the IMF (Claessens andKlapper, 2005). In addition,we control for the interest rate aswell as the number of banks percapitawithin a country in a given year in order to capture the variance and stability of a country's nancing infrastructure (Bandieraet al., 2000; Caprio and Honohan, 1999; Goderis and Ioannidou, 2008).

Second, in our attempt to control for unobserved regional effects, we create dummy variables for regions (e.g., Europe, Asia)with North America as the reference category. Differences in national institutions can bring about different levels ofentrepreneurial activity across countries (Baumol, 1996; Busenitz et al., 2000; North, 1990). We control for regions to accountfor these differences explained by a broader set of institutions that guides and constrains entrepreneurial behavior. We alsocontrol for general institutional quality that may inuence new rm entry rates in other forms than bankruptcy, such as efciencyof law. We account for this by controlling for the rule of lawan assessment of the law and order tradition within a country(Claessens and Klapper, 2005; La Porta et al., 1997, 1998).

Third, we control for time effects across all countries (Caprio and Klingebiel, 2002). We include a variable measuringyears elapsed from 1990 to capture any time trend effects associated with changes in the bankruptcy rate (Rhee and Haunschild,2006).

Fourth, we control for differences in the informal aspects of the institutional environment, such as uncertainty avoidance,obtained from Hofstede (2001). In other words, the same entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws may have different implicationsfor entrepreneurs in different institutional environments (Lee et al., 2007; Sutton and Callahan, 1987).

Fifth, we control for the ofcial cost of all procedures required to register a rm expressed as percentage of gross nationalincome [GNI] per capita, using World Bank data. Finally, since the rate of exit (previous year) and the rate of new entry (thefollowing year) may be positively correlated, we control for bankruptcy rate (previous year).

Table 2 presents descriptive statistics. In order to capture any possible multicollinearity problems associated with highcorrelation, we rst check all variance-ination factors (VIFs), tolerance, and condition indexes.While individual VIFs greater than10, the average VIF greater than 6, and the individual tolerance less than 0.1 are generally seen as indicative of severemulticollinearity, the maximum VIF of our data is 5.32, the mean VIF is 2.40, and none of the tolerance is less than 0.1, suggestinglittle problem of multicollinearity.

Table 3 presents the GEE estimates on the changes in the rate of new rm entry derived from Eq. (II). Model 1 is the base modelcontaining only the control variables. Models 2 to 6 represent the main effect of each of our independent variables. Model 7 is ournal model containing all key variables.

8 For example, STATA dropped observations due to missing number of banks. The main cause, however, was due to the lack of data availability on the rate ofnew rm entry among country-year observations (i.e., we start with 551 possible observations from a 19-year-and-29-country panel, and end up with 229observations for valid analysis).order to assess the economic signicance, we examine the marginal effects of independent variables on the dependentle. Economic signicance of marginal effects depends on the magnitude of change in the independent variables. However,oefcient estimates are difcult to interpret (Greene, 2000), we use the mfx command in STATA to obtain the elasticities ofrm dy /dx at the desired values of independent variables to calculate the marginal effects of independent variablesBRit1 the bankruptcy rate in a given country i at a given year t1CTit1 the average closing time (in years) to complete a bankruptcy procedure in country i during year t1CCit1 the average closing cost (% of estate) of the bankruptcy proceedings in country i during year t1RRit1 the recovery rate (cents on the dollar) of bankruptcy lings in country i during year t1SAit1 a dummy variable indicating whether the reorganization procedure allows an automatic stay of assets (1) or otherwise

(0) in country i during year t1MSit1 a dummy variable indicating whether the incumbent management is allowed to stay (1) or otherwise (0) in country i

during year t1Cit1 a vector of control variables (described below) in country i during year t1 a log normally distributed error term.

By transforming Eq. (I) to its natural logarithm, we obtain the linear equation with a normally distributed error term, :

Log ERi;t

= log BRit1 + CTit1 + CCit1 + RRit1 + SAit1 + iMSit1 + Cit1 + II

We use a logarithm transformation to allow our dependent variable (percentage) to take both positive and negative valuesrather than being constrained to be positive. This log-linear model is commonly used in econometric estimation for percentagechanges, and is more consistent with the assumption of normally distributed error terms (Greene, 2000).

5.6. Estimation

We estimate the parameters of Eq. (II) on unbalanced, pooled, cross-national, time-series data with yearly time periods. Sincewe do not have the same number of years for which we have observations on bankruptcy rates for each country, the number ofobservations varies among countries. Due to missing data, we have a total of 229 country-year observations.8

In order to take into account both inter- and intra-variations among country observations, we use the generalized estimatingequations (GEE) to test our hypotheses (Liang and Zeger, 1986; Rhee and Haunschild, 2006). Since our dataset contains multipleand unbalanced observations for each country, we use this estimation technique as a superior approach than a standard OrdinaryLeast Squares (OLS)-based regressionmodels. Because observations for countries are organized into a pooled cross-sectional time-series dataset, there will be potential for non-independence and cross-sectional heteroskedasticity. Thus, OLS-based estimatescould produce correlated error terms, under-stated standard errors, and inated t-statistics (Holcomb et al., 2009). Specically, weuse the identity link, the Gaussian distribution, and the exchangeable option of the correlation matrix in order to correct for thecorrelation from repeated observations made for each country (Rhee and Haunschild, 2006). Furthermore, we also use the clustercommand in STATA to obtain a robust variance estimate that accounts for (and adjusts for) within-country correlation andwithin-group dependence (Barkema and Shvyrkov, 2007; Williams, 2000).

Log [bankruptcy rate (t1)] .025 .023 .002 .035 .037 .018 .022The effect of closing time and closing cost exhibit positive and signicant (pb .01) results, therefore supporting bothHypotheses 1 and 2. In other words, the less time and less costs associated with bankruptcy proceeding are associated with ahigher rate of new rm entry in the next year (there is a one-year lag in all models). The signicant (pb .05) and positive effect offresh start also provides support for Hypothesis 3. The result shows that the more entrepreneurs recover from bankruptcy (whichwould mean a fresher start), the higher the rate of new rm entry in a country. Furthermore, the signicant (pb .05) and negativeeffect of automatic stay of assets supports Hypothesis 4b but not 4a. The result indicates that allowing assets to stay is notassociated with a higher rate of new rm entry; rather, it works the other way around. Finally, neither Hypotheses 5a nor 5b aresupported.

Table 4 presents the marginal effects of our main variables. The results show the magnitude of the effects of independentvariables on the dependent variablecomputed in terms of a unit change in the dependent variable associated with a change inone standard deviation in each independent variable from the mean shown in Table 2. When it comes to a dummy variable, it is achange from zero to one. The results indicate that 0.03 year (approximately 10 days) spent on closing time compared to 2.36 years(approximately 29 months) is associated with a 10% increase in the likelihood of a new rm entry. The difference between 1.04%and 12.93% of estate spent on closing cost translates into an 11% higher likelihood of new rm entry as well.When it comes to freshstart, securing 63.18% of the assets means an 11% higher likelihood of new rm entry compared to when an entrepreneur can onlysecure 38.48% of the assets. Finally, when automatic stay of assets is guaranteed, there is an 8% decrease in the likelihood of a newrm entry.

In terms of robustness checks, we have tested various additional models (e.g., unconditional specication without the controls,with only themost basic controls) as well as incorporated various other variables in addition to themain control variables. In orderto correct for unobserved period effects or convergence forces such as large positive shock in rm entry, we have included yeardummies for the 19 years. To account for the social dimension of bankruptcy laws, we have controlled for the level of social stigma

Table 4Signicant marginal effects of variables on the rate of new rm entry.

Variables Estimated marginal effect

Control variablesGDP per capita .087Number of banks per capita .100

516 S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520concerning failure by incorporating the suicide rate (by year, per 100,000 populations) obtained from theWHO.9We have also testedthe number of days and the number of procedures to start a business obtained from the Doing Business Report (World Bank). Sincepersonal bankruptcy laws may apply more to smaller rms and that the distribution of rm size may affect the occurrence ofbankruptcies, following Claessens and Klapper (2005), we also use the percentage of employment attributed to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as a control. Furthermore, we have also tried the rate of new rm entry in the previous year as a controlvariable to see if the previous level of new rm entry affects the rate of new rm entry in a given year. Finally, in order to account formeasurement error in our dependent variable, we have created the average new rm entry rate over the time period and tested ourhypotheses (Armington and Acs, 2002). The results are not qualitatively different from our main ndings.10

Another robustness check that we have added is an attempt to tease out the possibility of reverse causality. We utilize aninstrumental-variable approach (Klapper et al., 2006; Kwok and Tadesse, 2006) and test several variables as an instrumentalvariable. Among the bankruptcy law variables, Fan and White (2003) argue that fresh start is the most important variable forentrepreneurs since its impact can be enormous. We also nd that among the ve bankruptcy variables, fresh start is the onlyvariable that has a signicant relationship with interest rate and the relationship is positive. This shows that fresh start may be themost important variable when it comes to debt forgiveness. For this reason, following Klapper et al. (2006), we use legal origin asan instrument for fresh start. In the nance and economics literature, using such an institutional variable is customary (Kwok andTadesse, 2006). Specically, we use the ivreg command and robust option in STATA to obtain a robust estimate. We nd the resultsare qualitatively similar to the original results we have obtained.

7. Discussion

7.1. Contributions

Overall, at least three contributions emerge. First, this paper leverages insights from the past literature to address anentrepreneurship issue that has important public policy implications (Acs and Laszlo, 2007; Cumming et al., 2009; Shade andSiegel, 2008).11 In general, we nd that the less the downside risk involved in ling bankruptcy, the more new rms are founded.For policymakers, we suggest that making bankruptcy laws more entrepreneur-friendly will positively affect entrepreneurshipdevelopment by lowering exit barriers and entry barriers. For entrepreneurs starting up new rms, our advice is that they payattention to the nuances of bankruptcy laws in their jurisdiction and that if possible they set up rms in a jurisdiction that hasentrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws. Although management and entrepreneurship research rarely engages in public policyissues (as critiqued by Barney, 2005; Kochan et al., 2009; and Peng et al., 2009), the public policy implications of our research areclear. Specically, our research draws on and extends the recent advance of an institution-based view of entrepreneurship in theliterature (Peng et al., 2008, 2009, 2010) by shedding considerable light on how specic formal institutionsin this case,bankruptcy lawsmatter and thus by contributing to important public policy debates.

Start-up cost .100

Main variablesClosing time (Hypothesis 1) .100Closing cost (Hypothesis 2) .113Fresh start (Hypothesis 3) .113Automatic stay of assets (Hypothesis 4b) .084Second, we extend the argumentsmade by Lee et al. (2007) and Peng et al. (2010) that at a societal level, entrepreneur-friendlybankruptcy laws can lower entry barriers by encouraging entrepreneurs to take more risks and start-up more new rms. Whenrisk-taking is encouraged by more entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy laws, it can generate a variety of entrepreneurial options ata societal level by increasing the number of rms with high growth potential in a country. This may lead to more entrepreneur-ship and economic development at a societal level. Thus, we echo Hoetker and Agarwal (2007), Knott and Posen (2005),McGrath (1999), Lee et al. (2007), and Peng et al. (2010) by arguing that failure, although painful for individual entrepreneurs,may be goodfor the economy.

9 For example, in Japan, where stigma of failure is very high, it is well-known that bankrupt entrepreneurs often commit suicide (Time, 1999). About 30 peoplecommit suicide per day for economic reasons in Japan (Takahashi, 2003).10 Results are not shown here but are available upon request.11 This point is underscored by the fact that an earlier version of this article received the U.S. Small Business Administration Best Paper Award for a BabsonConference paper exploring the importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy and public policy issues of importance to the entrepreneurial communityat the 2008 Babson Conference.

517S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520Third, we empirically substantiate our argument through a longitudinal, cross-country database covering 29 countries on vecontinents and spanning 19 years. Our ndings, based on corporate bankruptcy laws, convergewith those reported by Armour andCumming (2008), who focus on personal bankruptcy laws in 15 countries on two continents. Specically, we nd that the less timeand less cost associated with the bankruptcy procedure encourages more new rm entries. For example, on average rms spendapproximately 29 months going through the bankruptcy proceedings. Decreasing this agonizing period to 10 days can boost thelikelihood of new rm entry by 10%. It is the same with the cost of bankruptcy. When less can be spent in the bankruptcyproceeding, this means increased new rm entry as well. We also nd that providing a failed entrepreneur with a fresher start willencourage higher likelihood of new entry.

It is puzzling that allowing an automatic stay of assets actually dampens the entry of new rms. Also, enabling managers tokeep their positions in bankrupt rms does not necessarily have a signicant impact on new rm entry. Our ndings suggest thattheremay be important adverse selection issues associated with keeping a failing rm's managers in placethemanagers who areassociated with an entrepreneurial rm's nancial distress may not always be the best managers to continue to manage a rm(Bebchuk, 2002).

The signicant results of some of our control variables are noteworthy. We nd that the degree of a country's previous economicdevelopment such as GDP per capita, nancing infrastructure such as the number of banks per capita, as well as nancial barrier toentry such as start-up cost indeed affect the rate of new rm entry within a country (Table 3). The marginal effects of the controlvariables (Table 4) show themagnitude of their effect on newrmentry rate. In termsofGDPper capita, a difference of approximately$12,000 translates to an 8% likelihood of new rm entry. The establishment of approximately 1.3 banks (per 1 million population)means 10% more new rm entry likelihood than 0.3 banks (per 1 million population). When it comes to start-up cost, a differencebetween a 10.43% and 20.65% of GNI per capita to register a rm translates into a 10% change in new rm entry likelihood.

Finally, it is important to highlight the similarities in the letter and spirit of personal and corporate bankruptcy laws, althoughas noted earlier in this article we choose not to deal with personal bankruptcy laws. For example, the concepts of fresh start andautomatic stay in corporate bankruptcy laws are similar to discharge and exemptions, respectively, in personal bankruptcylaws (Armour and Cumming, 2008). However, many entrepreneurs choose to incorporate their rms in order to protect theirpersonal assets, in case their rms go under. Therefore, our ndings, from a corporate bankruptcy law perspective, complementand strengthen Armour and Cumming's (2008) ndings that originate from a personal bankruptcy law perspective. In otherwords, our study starts to ll an important missing gap in the previous literature in terms of how entrepreneur-friendly corporatebankruptcy laws facilitate more entrepreneurship at a societal level.

7.2. Limitations and future research

Among limitations, our analysis does not incorporate time-varying bankruptcy variables. In other words, we are not able toaccount for the changes in corporate bankruptcy laws during the time period in the countries that are covered. While we can takeaccount of measures such as origin of law and rule of law (La Porta et al., 1997), we are unable to capture the various levels ofdevelopment of bankruptcy laws among the countries over time. This is an important limitation that future research may need toovercome.

Since the Doing Business Report (World Bank) is not a direct measure of outcomes and is, instead, derived from surveysadministered through local experts (e.g., lawyers, consultants, and ofcials), one may also question the consistency of resultsacross countries. However, the survey is designed with academic advisors, routinely administered through more than 6000 localexperts, and subject to numerous tests for robustness. Data are collected in a highly standardized way to ensure comparabilityacross economies and over time. Thismethodology actually offers several advantages including its transparency, allowingmultipleinteractions with local respondents to clarify potential misinterpretations of questions.

In a broader sense, we have examinedmainly the regulatory, thereby formal, aspects of the institutional environment and theireffect on new rm entry. While we have used an important informal aspect of the institutional environment as a control variable(uncertainty avoidance), it may be interesting to explore the interaction and/or moderating effects of this and other informalaspects of a country's institutional environment (Peng et al., 2008, 2009). In the case of default, informal workouts are oftenundertaken instead of formal insolvency proceedings. In future work, it will be important to examine how formal and informalconstraints can be integrated to create a more coherent understanding of how institutions constrain or facilitate entrepreneurialactivities in different countries.

Also, as suggested in Kaufmann et al. (2007) and Lee et al. (2007), many entrepreneurs may not investigate the nuances ofbankruptcy laws before starting up new businesses. Thus, the ex ante effects of bankruptcy laws on entrepreneurial entry may notbe as strong as suggested by our theory. However, if this is the case, then the results presented here are quite conservative innature. Past research on U.S. rms, however, shows that there is a signicant difference in new rm formation depending on howlenient the bankruptcy laws are in different states (Fan andWhite, 2003). Nevertheless, since similar cross-regional studies withinthe same country have not been done on countries other than the United States, where institutions are well developed, it isworthwhile to examine the relationship in other countries (Davidsson and Wiklund, 1995). It is possible that when otherinstitutions are more developed, entrepreneurs may become more sensitive to bankruptcy laws. On the other hand,underdevelopment of other essential institutions such as nancing and legal protection of properties may make entrepreneurspay less attention to bankruptcy laws, which may have a limited impact.

For example, when property rights are not well protected, entrepreneursmay not pay enough attention to the terminal stage ofbankruptcy. Just making sure that property rights are protected would be already an overwhelming task for many countries. This

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518 S.-H. Lee et al. / Journal of Business Venturing 26 (2011) 505520presented at the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (IE Business School, Madrid, Spain, June 2007), Academyof Management (Philadelphia, August 2007), and Strategic Management Society (San Diego, October 2007). A previous versionreceived a U.S. Small Business Administration Award for the best Babson Conference paper exploring the importance of smallbusinesses to the US economy or a public policy issue of importance to the entrepreneurial community, presented at the 2008Babson Conference (University of North Carolina, June 2008) with a press release posted at www.sba.gov/advo/press/08-14.html.We are grateful to the SBA and to the Best Babson Paper Award Committee (chaired by Andrew Zacharakis) for theirencouragement. All views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NSF or the SBA.

thank Donald Siegel (Editor) and two reviewers for excellent guidance and LiviaMarkoczy for helpful comments. This workupported in part by a National Science Foundation CAREER Grant (SES 0552089). Earlier versions of this article weremay be the reality in many emerging and developing economies, but the United States was not much different in the early 1800s.For example, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Joseph Story, wondered in 1820, whether lawyers would even be able tosettle them [bankruptcies and other property rights disputes] (De Soto, 2003: 9). Clearly, tremendous entrepreneurial andeconomic development in the United States since the early 1800s is not entirely due to certain entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcylaws. Such bankruptcy laws function in the much larger institutional framework facilitating entrepreneurial and economicdevelopment (North, 1990). Likewise, reforming bankruptcy laws and making them more entrepreneur-friendly should not beviewed as panacea for countries interested in promoting entrepreneurship development. It is the overall balanced development ofthe institutions that spurs entrepreneurship, not a piece-meal type development of certain aspects of institutions.

Furthermore, more systematic research in this area such as emerging economies (EE) versus developed economies (DE), high-tech versus low-tech industries, small entrepreneurial versus large incumbent rms may be worthy of exploration. For example,while some of our attempts did not achieve convergence due to the limited sample size when it comes to splitting data between EEand DE (Wright et al., 2005), it would be interesting to see the differential effects on rms in DE versus EE (Yamakawa et al., 2008).In terms of industry variation, a high-tech industry characterized by high uncertainty and high variance may be associated withlower levels of stigma for failure (Lee et al., 2007). Furthermore, the effect of bankruptcy laws on small entrepreneurial rms andthe societal impact of their bankruptcy lings can be different from the huge nancial impact of corporate bankruptcies of largeincumbent rms. The policy implications of bankruptcy laws for these different kinds of bankruptcies may be different, thusnecessitating further in-depth research.

8. Conclusion

Contributing to an institution-based view of entrepreneurship, we have mapped out how entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy lawscan stimulate entrepreneurship development around the world. Since bankruptcy is an occupational hazard for entrepreneurs(Economist, 2010: 68),making it less hazardous holds the potential to promotemore entrepreneurship. In conclusion, let us quote theEconomist (2010: 68), which addresses government ofcials desperately searching for ways to promote entrepreneurship andeconomic growth in the midst of the worst economic crisis:

Making it easier to close a business may not sound as inviting as announcing yet another enterprise fund or innovationinitiative, but it is more vital to reviving the world's moribund economy. In the short run, enlightened bankruptcy lawsreduce unemployment by keeping viable companies alive. In the long run they boost rates of entrepreneurship. The bestway to get more people to start businesses is to make it easier to wind them up.

American Journal of Sociology 112, 11351202.Hashi, I., 1997. The economics of bankruptcy, reorganization, and liquidation. Russian East European Finance and Trade 33, 634.Hoetker, G., Agarwal, R., 2007. Death hurts, but it isn't fatal: the post exit diffusion of knowledge created by innovative companies. Academy of Management

How do bankruptcy laws affect entrepreneurship development around the world?Executive summaryIntroductionEntrepreneurship at the societal levelHypothesesTime spent on bankruptcy procedureCost of bankruptcy procedureFresh start in liquidation bankruptcyAutomatic stay of assets in reorganization bankruptcyThe fate of managers